The Oyo State Government on Monday ordered the immediate suspension of 13 primary school headteachers, two assistant headteachers, and a classroom teacher for extortion and other misconducts.

The directive was issued through the Executive Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Nureni Adeniran, following an inspection tour of some schools in Ibadan, the state capital.

Adeniran said the state government would not tolerate inequity and gross indiscipline among teachers, indicating that the Board suspended the erring teachers due to “established facts met on ground at the various schools which they supervised.”

He added that apart from the illegal collection of fees from pupils, the suspended teachers were also found culpable of insubordination and refusal to comply with posting instructions.

The SUBEB chairman, who stated that the suspended teachers would face a disciplinary committee set up by the board, said the committee had been mandated to ensure a thorough probe of the allegations and give the suspects fair hearing.

Two headteachers, Agnes Amodu, of IMG Primary school, Olubadan, and Janet Ayoade, of St. John’s Catholic Primary School 1, Eleta, were suspended for their failure to comply with posting instructions.

Risikat Ogundele, who heads Atolu Model Primary School 4, Oremeji, was suspended for detaining a Primary 3 pupil in a police station.

Those who were suspended for illegal collection of fees were; Kehinde Oyediran and Monsurat Olaniyan, headteachers at Community Primary School 1 and 2, Idi-Obi, Airport, Ibadan; Omotosho Michael; Bilikisu Romoke, and Oyenike Damilola Adisa, headteachers at Community Primary School 1, 2, and 3, Sasa, Ibadan.

Likewise, headteachers of St. Paul’s Primary School 1,2,3 and 4, Yemetu, Olukoga; C.G. Lawal; Simbiat Adewale and O. F. Ogunbiyi, were suspended for illegal collection of fees.

The headteacher, IMG, School 1, Oje-Igosun, Esther Oluranti Adeoye, was also suspended for illegal collection of fees. Her accomplice, an assistant headteacher, Romoke Ahmadu-Bello, and a primary 6 teacher, Omolola Abobade, were also suspended.

An assistant headteacher, IMG School 2, Oje-Igosun, Mufudat Abioye, was also suspended for illegal collection of fees.

It would be recalled that the Oyo State Government, after announcing free and qualitative education in May 2019, approved the payment of N526 million as running grants to primary and secondary schools for the first term of 2019/2020 session.

The schools are expected to submit records of disbursements to the state government at the end of each term.

The SUBEB chairman said, “It was during our tour of schools that we discovered failure of some teachers to comply with posting instructions, while some of them were collecting illegal money from the pupils, despite reiteration of the free education policy of this administration.

“So far, we have discovered that some saboteurs are among the teachers, who are flouting the state government’s directives and pulling down our efforts to sanitise the teaching system in the state.”

The SUBEB chairman described the acts of the teachers as unruly, adding that the government would set up a standing disciplinary committee to handle such misdemeanours.

“We discovered that the absence of supervision and monitoring of education activities in the state has given so much room for impunity and indiscipline. We will not allow this to happen henceforth.

“This would serve as a deterrent to saboteurs among the head teachers in the state. They should know henceforth, that the state government will not tolerate indiscipline,” he said.

According to him, the state government’s stand to put a stop to quackery and indiscipline in the teaching profession still stands. He added that recalcitrant teachers must desist from illegal acts and warned teachers not to take the administration’s compassion for timidity.